Parameters of Reform and Unification in Modern Japanese Buddhist Thought: Murakami Senshō and Critical Buddhism

Reform is a word that, one might easily say, characterizes more than any other the history and development of Buddhism. Yet, it must also be said that reform movements in East Asian Buddhism have often taken on another goal—harmony or unification; that is, a desire not only to reconstruct a more worthy form of Buddhism, but to simultaneously bring together all existing forms under a single banner, in theory if not in practice. This paper explores some of the tensions between the desire for reform and the quest for harmony in modern Japanese Buddhism thought, by comparing two developments: the late 19th century movement towards ‘New Buddhism’ (shin Bukkyō) as exemplified by Murakami Senshō 村上専精 (1851–1929), and the late 20th century movement known as ‘Critical Buddhism’ (hihan Bukkyō), as found in the works of Matsumoto Shirō 松本史朗 and Hakamaya Noriaki 袴谷憲昭. In all that has been written about Critical Buddhism, in both Japanese and English, very little attention has been paid to the place of the movement within the larger traditions of Japanese Buddhist reform. Here I reconsider Critical Buddhism in relation to the concerns of the previous, much larger trends towards Buddhist reform that emerged almost exactly 100 years previous—the so-called shin Bukkyō or New Buddhism of the late-Meiji era. Shin Bukkyō is a catch-all term that includes the various writings and activities of Inoue Enryō, Shaku Sōen, and Kiyozawa Manshi, as well as the so-called Daijō-hibussetsuron, a broad term used (often critically) to describe Buddhist writers who suggested that Mahāyāna Buddhism is not, in fact, the Buddhism taught by the ‘historical’ Buddha Śākyamuni. Of these, I will make a few general remarks about Daijō-hibusseturon, before turning attention more specifically to the work of Murakami Senshō, in order to flesh out some of the similarities and differences between his attempt to construct a ‘unified Buddhism’ and the work of his late-20th century avatars, the Critical Buddhists. Though a number of their aims and ideas overlap, I argue that there remain fundamental differences with respect to the ultimate purposes of Buddhist reform. This issue hinges on the implications of key terms such as ‘unity’ and ‘harmony’ as well as the way doctrinal history is categorized and understood, but it also relates to issues of ideology and the use and abuse of Buddhist doctrines in 20th-century politics.

General and specific components of depression and anxiety in an adolescent population

Background Depressive and anxiety symptoms often co-occur resulting in a debate about common and distinct features of depression and anxiety. Methods An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a bifactor modelling approach were used to separate a general distress continuum from more specific sub-domains of depression and anxiety in an adolescent community sample (n = 1159, age 14). The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire and the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale were used. Results A three-factor confirmatory factor analysis is reported which identified a) mood and social-cognitive symptoms of depression, b) worrying symptoms, and c) somatic and information-processing symptoms as distinct yet closely related constructs. Subsequent bifactor modelling supported a general distress factor which accounted for the communality of the depression and anxiety items. Specific factors for hopelessness-suicidal thoughts and restlessness-fatigue indicated distinct psychopathological constructs which account for unique information over and above the general distress factor. The general distress factor and the hopelessness-suicidal factor were more severe in females but the restlessness-fatigue factor worse in males. Measurement precision of the general distress factor was higher and spanned a wider range of the population than any of the three first-order factors. Conclusions The general distress factor provides the most reliable target for epidemiological analysis but specific factors may help to refine valid phenotype dimensions for aetiological research and assist in prognostic modelling of future psychiatric episodes.

The simultaneous role of an alveolus as flow mixer and flow feeder for the deposition of inhaled submicron particles

In an effort to understand the fate of inhaled submicron particles in the small sacs, or alveoli, comprising the gas-exchange region of the lung, we calculated the flow in three-dimensional (3D) rhythmically expanding models of alveolated ducts. Since convection toward the alveolar walls is a precursor to particle deposition, it was the goal of this paper to investigate the streamline maps' dependence upon alveoli location along the acinar tree. On the alveolar midplane, the recirculating flow pattern exhibited closed streamlines with a stagnation saddle point. Off the midplane we found no closed streamlines but nested, funnel-like, spiral, structures (reminiscent of Russian nesting dolls) that were directed towards the expanding walls in inspiration, and away from the contracting walls in expiration. These nested, funnel-like, structures were surrounded by air that flowed into the cavity from the central channel over inspiration and flowed from the cavity to the central channel over expiration. We also found that fluid particle tracks exhibited similar nested funnel-like spiral structures. We conclude that these unique alveolar flow structures may be of importance in enhancing deposition. In addition, due to inertia, the nested, funnel-like, structures change shape and position slightly during a breathing cycle, resulting in flow mixing. Also, each inspiration feeds a fresh supply of particle-laden air from the central channel to the region surrounding the mixing region. Thus, this combination of flow mixer and flow feeder makes each individual alveolus an effective mixing unit, which is likely to play an important role in determining the overall efficiency of convective mixing in the acinus.

Effects of flame made zinc oxide particles in human lung cells - a comparison of aerosol and suspension exposures

Background Predominantly, studies of nanoparticle (NPs) toxicology in vitro are based upon the exposure of submerged cell cultures to particle suspensions. Such an approach however, does not reflect particle inhalation. As a more realistic simulation of such a scenario, efforts were made towards direct delivery of aerosols to air-liquid-interface cultivated cell cultures by the use of aerosol exposure systems. This study aims to provide a direct comparison of the effects of zinc oxide (ZnO) NPs when delivered as either an aerosol, or in suspension to a triple cell co-culture model of the epithelial airway barrier. To ensure dose–equivalence, ZnO-deposition was determined in each exposure scenario by atomic absorption spectroscopy. Biological endpoints being investigated after 4 or 24h incubation include cytotoxicity, total reduced glutathione, induction of antioxidative genes such as heme-oxygenase 1 (HO–1) as well as the release of the (pro)-inflammatory cytokine TNFα. Results Off-gases released as by-product of flame ZnO synthesis caused a significant decrease of total reduced GSH and induced further the release of the cytokine TNFα, demonstrating the influence of the gas phase on aerosol toxicology. No direct effects could be attributed to ZnO particles. By performing suspension exposure to avoid the factor “flame-gases”, particle specific effects become apparent. Other parameters such as LDH and HO–1 were not influenced by gaseous compounds: Following aerosol exposure, LDH levels appeared elevated at both timepoints and the HO–1 transcript correlated positively with deposited ZnO-dose. Under submerged conditions, the HO–1 induction scheme deviated for 4 and 24h and increased extracellular LDH was found following 24h exposure. Conclusion In the current study, aerosol and suspension-exposure has been compared by exposing cell cultures to equivalent amounts of ZnO. Both exposure strategies differ fundamentally in their dose–response pattern. Additional differences can be found for the factor time: In the aerosol scenario, parameters tend to their maximum already after 4h of exposure, whereas under submerged conditions, effects appear most pronounced mainly after 24h. Aerosol exposure provides information about the synergistic interplay of gaseous and particulate phase of an aerosol in the context of inhalation toxicology. Exposure to suspensions represents a valuable complementary method and allows investigations on particle-associated toxicity by excluding all gas–derived effects.

Investigation Of Leucine And Glutamic Acid Properties From The Nanoscale To The Macroscale

Aerosols are known to have important effects on climate, the atmosphere, and human health. The extent of those effects is unknown and largely depend on the interaction of aerosols with water in the atmosphere. Ambient aerosols are complex mixtures of both inorganic and organic compounds. The cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activities, hygroscopic behavior and particle morphology of a monocarboxylic amino acid (leucine) and a dicarboxylic amino acid (glutamic acid) were investigated. Activation diameters at various supersaturation conditions were experimentally determined and compared with Köhler theoretical values. The theory accounts for both surface tension and the limited solubility of organic compounds. It was discovered that glutamic acid aerosols readily took on water both when relative humidity was less than 100% and when the supersaturation condition was reached, while leucine did not show any water activation at those conditions. Moreover, the study also suggests that Köhler theory describes CCN activity of organic compounds well when only surface tension of the compound is taken into account and complete solubility is assumed. Single parameter ¿ was also computed using both CCN data and hygroscopic growth factor (GF). The results of ¿ range from 0.17 to 0.53 using CCN data and 0.09 to 0.2 using GFs. Finally, the study suggests that during the water-evaporation/particle-nucleation process, crystallization from solution droplets takes place at different locations: for glutamic acid at the particles¿ center and leucine at the particles¿ boundary.

Harry Potter and the Theory of Things

This thesis investigates the boundaries between body and object in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, seven children’s literature novels published between 1997 and 2007. Lord Voldemort, Rowling’s villain, creates Horcruxes—objects that contain fragments of his soul—in order to ensure his immortality. As vessels for human soul, these objects rupture the boundaries between body and object and become “things.” Using contemporary thing theorists including John Plotz and materialists Jean Baudrillard and Walter Benjamin, I look at Voldemort’s Horcruxes as transgressive, liminal, unclassifiable entities in the first chapter. If objects can occupy the juncture between body and object, then bodies can as well. Dementors and Inferi, dark creatures that Rowling introduces throughout the series, live devoid of soul. Voldemort, too, becomes a thing as he splits his soul and creates Horcruxes. These soulless bodies are uncanny entities, provoking fear, revulsion, nausea, and the loss of language. In the second chapter, I use Sigmund Freud’s theorization of the uncanny as well as literary critic Kelly Hurley to investigate how Dementors, Inferi, and Voldemort exist as body-turned-object things at the juncture between life and death. As Voldemort increasingly invests his immaterial soul into material objects, he physically and spiritually degenerates, transforming from the young, handsome Tom Marvolo Riddle into the snake-like villain that murdered Harry’s parents and countless others. During his quest to find and destroy Voldemort’s Horcruxes, Harry encounters a different type of object, the Deathly Hallows. Although similarly accessing boundaries between body/object, life/death, and materiality/immateriality, the three Deathly Hallows do not transgress these boundaries. Through the Deathly Hallows, Rowling provides an alternative to thingification: objects that enable boundaries to fluctuate, but not breakdown. In the third chapter, I return to thing theorists, Baudrillard, and Benjamin to study how the Deathly Hallows resist thingification by not transgressing the boundaries between body and object.

The Semantics and Typology of Yes/No Particles (A Cross-Linguistic Study)

Taking the three basic systems of Yes/No particles the group looked at the relative deep and surface structures, and asked what types of systems are present in the Georgian, Polish and Armenian languages. The choice of languages was of particular interest as the Caucasian and Indo-European languages usually have different question-answering systems, but Georgian (Caucasian) and Polish (Indo-European) in fact share the same system. The Armenian language is Indo-European, but the country is situated in the southern Caucasus, on Georgia's southern border, making it worth analysing Armenian in comparison with Georgian (from the point of view of language interference) and with Polish (as two relative languages). The group identified two different deep structures, tracing the occurrence of these in different languages, and showed that one is more natural in the majority of languages. They found no correspondence between relative languages and their question-answer systems and demonstrated that languages in the same typological class may show different systems, as with Georgian and the North Caucasian languages. It became clear that Georgian, Armenian and Polish all have an agree/disagree question-answering system defined by the same deep structure. From this they conclude that the lingual mentalities of Georgians, Armenians and Poles are more oriented to the communicative act. At the same time the Yes/No system, in which a positive particle stands for a positive answer and a negative particle for a negative answer, also functions in these languages, indicating that the second deep structure identified also functions alongside the first.

[Simultaneous defect of visual fields and loss of libido--a coincidence?]

We present the case of a 60 year old male patient with incidentally detected visual abnormalities. Detailed personal history revealed a hypogonadism that had been present for several years. Further investigations established the diagnosis of an infiltrative macroadenoma. Medical treatment with cabergoline led to a rapid regression of ophthalmologic symptoms and, subsequently, of tumor size. In male subjects symptoms of hypogonadism are often reported only late in the course of the disease, thereby leading to a generally larger tumor size at the point of diagnosis. In contrast to other pituitary tumors that are mainly treated by surgery, medical treatment with dopamine agonists is the principal therapeutic option in prolactinomas.

Proving Efficiency of NPMLE and Identities

A method is given for proving efficiency of NPMLE directly linked to empirical process theory. The conditions in general are appropriate consistency of the NPMLE, differentiability of the model, differentiability of the parameter of interest, local convexity of the parameter space, and a Donsker class condition for the class of efficient influence functions obtained by varying the parameters. For the case that the model is linear in the parameter and the parameter space is convex, as with most nonparametric missing data models, we show that the method leads to an identity for the NPMLE which almost says that the NPMLE is efficient and provides us straightforwardly with a consistency and efficiency proof. This identify is extended to an almost linear class of models which contain biased sampling models. To illustrate, the method is applied to the univariate censoring model, random truncation models, interval censoring case I model, the class of parametric models and to a class of semiparametric models.

Translocation and potential neurological effects of fine and ultrafine particles a critical update

ABSTRACT: Particulate air pollution has been associated with respiratory and cardiovascular disease. Evidence for cardiovascular and neurodegenerative effects of ambient particles was reviewed as part of a workshop. The purpose of this critical update is to summarize the evidence presented for the mechanisms involved in the translocation of particles from the lung to other organs and to highlight the potential of particles to cause neurodegenerative effects.Fine and ultrafine particles, after deposition on the surfactant film at the air-liquid interface, are displaced by surface forces exerted on them by surfactant film and may then interact with primary target cells upon this displacement. Ultrafine and fine particles can then penetrate through the different tissue compartments of the lungs and eventually reach the capillaries and circulating cells or constituents, e.g. erythrocytes. These particles are then translocated by the circulation to other organs including the liver, the spleen, the kidneys, the heart and the brain, where they may be deposited. It remains to be shown by which mechanisms ultrafine particles penetrate through pulmonary tissue and enter capillaries. In addition to translocation of ultrafine particles through the tissue, fine and coarse particles may be phagocytized by macrophages and dendritic cells which may carry the particles to lymph nodes in the lung or to those closely associated with the lungs. There is the potential for neurodegenerative consequence of particle entry to the brain. Histological evidence of neurodegeneration has been reported in both canine and human brains exposed to high ambient PM levels, suggesting the potential for neurotoxic consequences of PM-CNS entry. PM mediated damage may be caused by the oxidative stress pathway. Thus, oxidative stress due to nutrition, age, genetics among others may increase the susceptibility for neurodegenerative diseases. The relationship between PM exposure and CNS degeneration can also be detected under controlled experimental conditions. Transgenic mice (Apo E -/-), known to have high base line levels of oxidative stress, were exposed by inhalation to well characterized, concentrated ambient air pollution. Morphometric analysis of the CNS indicated unequivocally that the brain is a critical target for PM exposure and implicated oxidative stress as a predisposing factor that links PM exposure and susceptibility to neurodegeneration.Together, these data present evidence for potential translocation of ambient particles on organs distant from the lung and the neurodegenerative consequences of exposure to air pollutants.